Pompano Stadium Use Up In The Air

POMPANO BEACH -- The first weeks of baseball spring training are a poignant reminder that Pompano Beach is a city with a baseball stadium and no baseball team.

Now city officials are trying to figure what to do with the deteriorating stadium, which holds about 4,000 people. One group favors renovating the stadium in hope of luring a major-league team for the 1989 season. Others would prefer developing an outdoor pavilion for concerts. Commissioner Grey Webb wants to use the stadium as is for a summer concert series.

``Whatever we do with it, we should act soon,`` said Tim Tapp, director of the Recreation Department.

When the Texas Rangers announced 1 1/2 years ago that they were leaving their spring training home of 23 years to train in Port Charlotte, Pompano Beach administrators scrambled to find a major league baseball team to take their place.

So far, the city has struck out with three teams -- the Cincinnati Reds, the Chicago White Sox and an unnamed team.

Now city administrators are hoping to get a team in time for the 1989 baseball season, lured by the promise of a $4.5 million renovated stadium.

Commissioner Mike Gomes said he would rather gamble on a theater that would fulfill a cultural void than on a baseball team that would duplicate what already exists in South Florida.

Commissioner Nate Braverman announced six months ago that he wants to bulldoze the city`s dilapidated baseball stadium and build an outdoor facility for theater and concerts in its place.

``Baseball teams are all over the place,`` he said when he first proposed the idea. ``Why not do something that would really make Pompano Beach special?``

The outdoor theater Braverman has in mind would be used by acting companies, orchestras and other musical organizations. There would be about 1,000 seats and room for another 3,000 or 4,000 people to sit on grassy knolls. It would be patterned after successful outdoor theaters such as Tanglewood in Massachusetts, near New York, and Wolf Trap outside Washington, D.C.

Assistant City Manager Danny Crew said an outdoor theater is not practical for Pompano Beach because the stadium is in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Old Pompano.

``Imagine 8,000 to 10,000 cars and 20,000 watts of The Grateful Dead or Men At Work,`` Crew said.

Crew, however, said that concerts would be a nice complement to another industry that would generate a more stable income. He suggested renovating the stadium for a major-league team and using the setup for concerts in the off- season.

Webb suggested using the stadium for a summer concert series. The bleachers and concession area would be upgraded by a private company that needed a spot for a concert series.

Tapp said he has been trying to bring a concert series to Pompano Beach but that the stadium may not be the best location for it. In the interim, the city will use the stadium to host high school and college baseball games.

Pompano Beach also will host a concert featuring Frankie Avalon in June that is expected to attract 10,000.